Cheering for John Paul's Sainthood–and Ignoring His Ties to Abuse Scandal

"John Paul II's Beatification Cheered" was USA Today's headline (5/2/11)–followed by 19 paragraphs of cheerleading for the accelerated process of declaring the late Pope John Paul II an official saint: Various sources in Eric Lyman's article called the event "an important day and a wonderful opportunity to recognize a great man," "a man of God who inspired countless people" with "the strength of a titan, a strength which came to him from God."

The only hint of dissent came in the last two paragraphs of the piece:

Not all were pleased about the beatification.

"John Paul was a great man, a sincere man, and he was well-loved," said the Rev. Paolo Farinella of Genoa. "This whole beatification is a pure public relations move aimed at revitalizing the church's fortunes at a difficult time," he said, referring to sex scandals involving local priests.

So the worst people have to say about John Paul was that he was a "great," "sincere," "well-loved" man whose memory is being exploited? Well, not exactly. As a London Times article (4/4/10) noted last year, some people have had far harsher things to say:

The most serious claims related to Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, an Austrian friend of John Paul's who abused an estimated 2,000 boys over decades but never faced any sanction from Rome. Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, Groer's successor, criticised the handling of that scandal and other abuse cases last week…. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger–who became Pope Benedict–had tried to investigate the abuses as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to Schonborn. But his efforts had been blocked by "the Vatican," an apparent reference to John Paul.

John Paul also faced criticism last week from Poland for protecting Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, who was accused of abusing trainee priests. Letters detailing the charges were sent to John Paul's office and to Ratzinger in 2000 but were ignored. Paetz resigned in 2002 when the allegations became public….

In America, critics pointed out that although Benedict has borne the brunt of criticism over ignoring the scandal of Father Lawrence Murphy, accused of molesting 200 deaf boys at a special school in Wisconsin, Ratzinger had acted on the authority of John Paul.

Another beneficiary of John Paul's discreet approach was Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican priest known as Father Maciel, who founded a conservative religious order. He was accused by former members of abuse in 1998. John Paul blessed Maciel in the Vatican in late 2004, at a time when Ratzinger was investigating him….

John Paul was also accused of ignoring controversy over John Magee, a former private secretary to three popes including the Polish pontiff, who named him Bishop of Cloyne in 1987. Late last month Magee was forced to resign after an independent report found that his diocese in Ireland had put children at risk.

You'd think you might mention these serious allegations in an article about the beatification of John Paul–if your goal was reporting and not cheering, that is.

Extra! Magazine Editor Since 1990, Jim Naureckas has been the editor of Extra!, FAIR's monthly journal of media criticism. He is the co-author of The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error, and co-editor of The FAIR Reader: An Extra! Review of Press and Politics in the '90s. He is also the co-manager of FAIR's website. He has worked as an investigative reporter for the newspaper In These Times, where he covered the Iran-Contra scandal, and was managing editor of the Washington Report on the Hemisphere, a newsletter on Latin America. Jim was born in Libertyville, Illinois, in 1964, and graduated from Stanford University in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in political science. Since 1997 he has been married to Janine Jackson, FAIR's program director. You can follow Jim on Twitter at @JNaureckas.

and don't forget cardinal bernard law. after being forced to resign for covering up the enormous priest-pedophile scandal in boston on his watch, the first that came to public view in the u.s., cardinal law was given a cushy vatican post by john paul that he still holds, and was one of the featured speakers at john paul's funeral. john paul did some good and important things during his papacy. but a saint he's not. far from it. his soul would be better off if he'd been given a pardon.

I remember the 80's very well. This was the pope that championed all the way – together with the CIA and various intelligence fronts – the anti-communist Polish "Solidarity"
workers movement but said not a single word about African workers under Apartheid! As a black catholic, I have agonized beyond relief how this could be. A repeat of the slavery era when the Catholic popes gave their blessing to the slave trade and even issued concessions for participating European powers.

And don't forget John Paul II & the Catholic Church's involvement in the notorious Vatican Bank Scandal which seems linked to the 'curious' death of his predecessor John Paul I after barely 1 month as Pope [NOTE: 'The God-Father Pt 3', David Yallop's non-fiction book 'In Gods Name', Arch-Bishop Paul Marcinkus {note his connection to the Chicago Mafia}, & the Vatican Bank's link to the BCCI scandal].

The whole thing with the Catholic church (and most religions) goes to prove a quote by Arthur C. Clarke …

"A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets"

Meaning that throughout the existence of the Catholic church their idea of the source of truth, from the Bible, their ideas of God's word, the Pope and infallibility has somehow survived collision with the truth, but not yielded any improvement or change in this religious institution. It is a political interest group that has virtually nothing to recommend it but its own existing political institution, its claimed virtuosity and the pomp and facade of respectability for what is really inhuman untruthful and often criminal behavior.

That puts the United States solidly right back in the 8th or 9th century along with Islam.

When I was still a priest, we priests would talk about what it would take to become a bishop. We laughed when someone suggested that you had to answer 3 questions correctly, according to Vatican standards: Where do you stand on birth control; on married priests; and on women as priests? Come to find out that under John Paul II, those were indeed questions that were asked and had to be answered correctly.

If I pray to my dog to cure my hemorrhoids, an infected hangnail and an ugly cold sore can I nominate the pooch for sainthood, too?!

What a crock!

Here's an interesting tidbit regarding so-called journalistic integrity – Philadelphia's ABC affiliate WPVI Channel 6 reported on the Beatification of Pope John Paul II with absolutely no story about everything he DIDN'T do as pope, like NOT discouraging bigotry and hate-mongering and NOT investigating alleged sexual abuse by priests. But Channel 6 did invite viewers to submit their photos of the the dead pope to post on their website! Here's a link:

Little perspective from the Catholic side(I spent 12 years in very strict catholic education.Notre dame nuns,Franciscans….)I think we are reaching that time where the congregation has lost faith in the hierarchy of the church.The sex scandals have put a huge dent in the strange cloistered existence of priesthood/nuns and in fact the catechism of the faith.The Popes and their Bishops are seen as archaic by a growing majority.Out of touch ….and lets face it "touched" by more and more of their congregations.Seldom will you read about the warped development, and the highjacking of the faith in the middle ages by an elitist sect inspired by monachy.You dont read it- because of fear in the power of the church.The vatican is a gold and marble laced home of statues to worship.The pope adorned in silk and gold braid.Each cross he wears adorned in jewels worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.Now it moves to adorn one of its own with sainthood.Was he a good man?A bad man?Who can really tell.His story is so sanitized.I would think he was probably a good man though flawed.But a saint?How silly.Man made nonsense.If there is such a thing I would think God would be the only one to recognize it.Or does he wait to get the memo from the Vatican?

Just as troubling, to many of us, was John Paul's support of the terrorist Contras during the Sandinista period in Nicaragua and his silencing and sidelining of dedicated liberation theologians like Father Ernesto Cardenal, poet and Minister of Culture in the Sandinista government.